A year ago, I took a job as a software consultant, and was asked to move from Chicago to Phoenix.
I've had an astounding year, and have received a lot of praise and acknowledgement for my work as I've been here.
However, as someone who's in their very early 20's, I feel somewhat isolated. I don't have a personal life out here, and in the year that I've been here, I've made no friends outside of work. The people I do know at work are all twice my age.
On the other hand, there are many people I know and love back in Chicago, and I can't help but think that I'd be much happier back there.
The work that I do could all be done remotely - In fact, the actual work, or development, is all done via remote desktop connection and/or VPN connection to a customer's external system anyways.
I work in a small office with 2-3 other people (some of the office members travel occasionally, so it's frequently not filled with everyone), who usually rely on me for troubleshooting / knowledge support when they run into technical issues or roadblocks on the platform that we work with. This is both a good thing for them, as it helps them work more efficiently, and a slight negative for me as it makes me less productive at handling my own work.
If I were to work remotely and move back, they would still be able to ask me for the same help, via Skype for Business and/or other communications tools we have, but I may not be able to respond to them as quickly as in person (Something I'm fine with but that my manager may consider a negative thing).
My question is: How should I approach the subject of asking my manager if I can move back to Chicago?
I am considering telling him that it is not working out for me, personally, and that I'm just not happy here. I feel that I could be just as productive working remotely, but that it would work out for me a lot more, and would free up a space in the office (we have multiple offices, the one i'm in we're trying to add a few resources to, but we will need to buy a larger office soon as we're running out of space).